Environments Module at Pleasant Gardens Elementary,
Marion, North Carolina

By Nan Isaacs, Pleasant Gardens Elementary School, Marion, North Carolina

Things were sprouting up all over the fifth-grade hall at Pleasant Gardens Elementary in Marion, North Carolina. I began my year with the FOSS Environments Module. Students eagerly planned their terrariums and planted their seeds. As plants grew, students read and learned about the biomes. Many students enjoyed the article about the biomes in the FOSS Science Stories Environments book.

Elijah Lawing is quoted, “Each biome is unique with its own environmental factors and range of tolerance.” 

“I liked it when we worked with water tolerance. I got to see how much water seeds needed to survive,” commented Brittany Hughes.

Bailey Stiwinter said, “I liked the part about the ecosystems. I learned that animals survive in different ecosystems. We did an investigation using darkling beetles and isopods. We learned which environment suited which bug.” 

Investigation 2, Bugs and Beetles, was slightly out of order because we had to wait for the organisms. When they arrived, the students enjoyed holding them and testing out their hypotheses. Tom Hawkins liked learning about the producers, consumers, and decomposers from the article in Investigation 4, “I liked learning how the world’s organisms depend on each other.”

Each activity is set up in a notebook with a question, materials, procedure, observations, data, and conclusion. Each group works together to gather and record their findings and decide on how best to state their conclusions.

Perhaps the best activity according to students was working with the brine shrimp. Students were introduced to the shrimp as suggested in the teacher guide. They were asked to decide how to determine if the changes in salt levels of Lake Mono would affect the hatching of the brine shrimp eggs.

“The eggs were like a speck of dust,” says Brooke Lane. Brady Ruiz enjoyed a lot of things, but looking at the little shrimp swim through a magnifying glass was the most fun. He was surprised to learn that they can have too little and too much salt in the water. After the lesson ended our class continued with some commercial sea monkeys to see them at the adult stage. We now have seven adults and many babies!

As the fifth-grade science teacher for the past 14 years I have seen a tremendous change in the enthusiasm of students during science class. They greet me in the hall asking what we will do today. Students who have shown little interest in classwork are now eager. The FOSS Program has really made science come alive in my class and at our school. 

From raising brine shrimp to exploring salt-tolerant plants, the FOSS Environments Module was a source of great fascination and inquiry to Nan Issaac's fifth-grade students. (Photos by Nan Isaacs.)